


Cloudburst

by AutumnHobbit



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Angst, Brotherly Bonding, Brothers, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, batfamily
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-04-22
Packaged: 2018-10-22 09:54:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10694610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AutumnHobbit/pseuds/AutumnHobbit
Summary: anonymous said: Tim and Dami prompt, what about the family is in the manor, and there's a really nasty thunderstorm. And Dami isn't used to them, cause where he's from they don't really have thunder and lightning so he freaks out. And he's used to running to Dick, so he does but he goes into Tim's room instead, just kind of dives in the bed with Tim. And after the usual posturing Tim lets him settle in and when they're asleep they cuddle. Dick goes looking for Dami, finds them and ends up leaving them alone.________Blinding light sliced in through the glass and turned the space into a chiaroscuro of sharp lines and jagged shadows, and only a split second later the window rattled with the force of the thunder. Damian was out of his bed and halfway down the hall before he realized he had moved.





	Cloudburst

The colossal crash of the entire world shaking on its axis woke Damian in a panic, and Alfred the cat went running off, screeching the whole way. Damian felt immediately guilty for that; Titus was bouncing around on his toes, suddenly awoken from his own slumber. Aside from that, his room was empty.

Blinding light sliced in through the glass and turned the space into a chiaroscuro of sharp lines and jagged shadows, and only a split second later the window rattled with the force of the thunder. Damian was out of his bed and halfway down the hall before he realized he had moved.

His feet slowed suddenly, and he staggered, the rug getting caught up beneath his feet as he skidded to a pause. Grayson's closed door stood in front of him. He wanted more than anything to go running in and curl up in the safety of his older brother's side, but...he couldn't bring himself to. He swallowed hard, pain joining the fear in the staccato beat of his heart. He went two strides towards Father's room, but then paused; Father was injured and still down in the Cave, on oxygen and an IV.

A huge gust of wind howled outside, the frame of the house whining, and another boom rattled the window. Damian pivoted and ran down the hall, bursting into another room and leaping into the bed.

 _"What the--!"_ Tim yelped hoarsely as Damian landed beside him, missing him by inches. "What--?"

 _"Shut up, Drake,"_ Damian bit out, his voice shaking. The idea of going back to his room to lick his re-opened wounds and to sleep off his embarrassment in peace was tempting, but he couldn't bring himself to move.

Tim sighed. He pushed himself up on his elbow, and got a firm grasp on the blanket, tugging it from beneath Damian's stiff form. He then flipped the corner up, and Damian scrambled beneath it. Tim tucked it over him with another stifled sigh.

"It is kind of scary. Should pass over soon, though." He eased himself back down onto his back. "I checked the radar. Not any tornado risk or anything."

"Tt." Damian muttered. "As if I would be afraid of a tornado."

 _Yeah, well with what you've seen in life, a tornado is child's play._ Tim bit his tongue, sighing. "You didn't go with Dick?" He asked, unnecessarily.

Damian shook his head, his bangs tickling Tim's arm.

Tim sighed again.

There was a beat where the only noise came from outside.

"He lied to me," Damian said in a tiny voice. "He lied to us."

Tim closed his eyes. "I know."

"He can't just step back in and act like nothing changed, when he, he--" Damian's voice was rising with broken anger. "He wasn't _here!_ W-we _needed_ him and he wasn't--"

"Yeah," Tim said quietly.

Another pause.

"He...he was my Batman." Damian whispered brokenly, and Tim felt Damian's lashes brushing his arm as the boy blinked rapidly. "I thought he trusted me. I thought he..." the child gulped. "I thought he loved me."

"Gah, Damian." Tim groaned, rolling onto his side to face the sniffling lump under the blanket. "He does love you."

"Why would he d-do that if he did?" Damian demanded hotly, voice wet. "Mother lied to me. That's not h-how love is _supposed_ to work."

"No, it's not." Tim agreed. "But sometimes it just winds up that way. People make mistakes, Damian. Even when they really do care. That doesn't make what they did okay, but..."

Damian turned his head, and flipped the blanket up so his face was showing. "But what?" He grumbled, his face tear-streaked and his button nose red. He would have looked comical if he didn't look so genuinely wrecked, and Tim swallowed hard.

"Look. He loves you. I _know_ you love him, or you wouldn't be so upset. Just...you don't have to forgive him right away. Maybe just...give him the chance to make it up to you. Okay?"

Damian puzzled it over for a moment, brow wrinkled. Tim sighed a bit and closed his eyes. He was still tired, actually...

"What about you?" Damian demanded out of nowhere.

Tim's eyes blinked back open, and rolled to glance at Damian. The boy looked indignant and still quite angry. "What?" Tim asked, feeling kind of brain dead. Goshdarn three in the morning.

"Aren't you angry?"

"Hell yes," Tim responded instantly. "I'm fucking furious with him. You are aware I haven't spoken to him either, beyond the initial shoutfest."

"And?" Damian prodded.

"And I'm probably not going to forgive him at any point in the next month, at least, barring any life-or-death crises," Tim shrugged. "I'll probably eventually bury my resentment back in the corner of my brain that's activated by lack of sleep or caffeine."

Damian wrinkled his nose. "So, you never forgive anyone?"

Tim shrugged. "Guess it depends on your definition of forgiveness. I don't _forget_ what people did to me, per se, and I definitely don't stop being angry about it, but...dude. If I went around angry all the time at everyone who's wronged me, I'd never speak to anyone in this entire city, ever. Except maybe Alfred."

Damian seemed vaguely startled by this statement, and then a little dejected, dropping his gaze to the bedsheet and slumping down a bit. Tim realized that that statement would probably include Damian, and he stifled a groan of frustration and went on. "It's just a sucky way to function, Damian. You have to move on at some point or you'll never get anything done. You either resign to hate Dick for the rest of your life, or you resign to find a way to forgive him. Those are the options."

Damian curled on his side and sniffled, freeing one fist to scrub at his bright red nose. "I don't know what I want."

"Well right now, _I_ kind of want to sleep." Tim said tiredly. He patted Damian's hand, and rolled over, tugging a bit more slack in the blanket. "You don't have to decide right away, Damian," he said sleepily over his shoulder.

"...I suppose," Damian mumbled after a minute, when Tim was already half-asleep. There was a rustling noise as the boy settled down in the blankets.

____

Dick wandered out of his room a few minutes before the sun rose, having woken up around an hour before and been unable to get back to sleep. He stepped quietly over the squeaky spots as he wandered down the hallway, tracing his hand lightly along the wall. He hadn't been home in so long, and there were times he’d wondered if he'd ever see it again. Odd, he reflected, as he ran his fingertips along the edge of a small rip in the wallpaper that had somehow escaped Alfred's notice. He somehow felt it should have changed, but everything was the same.

He paused in front of Damian's bedroom door, which was shut. He swallowed hard. Damian was afraid of thunderstorms; it was a fact he'd discovered early on in the boy's run as Robin, and in his first days at the Manor. He'd thought about Damian last night, as the rain pounded on the rooftop, but he'd been too cowardly to go and check on him and get the door slammed in his face. He knew he deserved it, but that didn't make it any easier to bear, especially when he'd missed Damian so much.

He hesitated for a moment. He could lean in and check on Damian, at least. He was probably still asleep. He could just peek in and make sure Damian was okay, then make his escape and go downstairs for breakfast or go down to the Cave to train, or something. His days seemed so much emptier when none of his siblings were willing to talk to him. Swallowing, he carefully grasped the handle to Damian's door and turned it, cautiously sticking his head inside.

Damian's bed was empty.

Oh great. Dick felt his pulse speeding up. Damian had a tendency to hide when he was upset, and with Bruce hurt and Alfred occupied, he could be anywhere by now. He pivoted and hurried towards Tim's room. Tim was still mad at him, but he didn't think Tim would refuse to help if it was about Damian. He pushed through the door quickly--

And came to a full stop as he saw Damian curled on his side, a pressure mark from the wrinkled bedclothes worn into his round cheek, his expression peaceful as he slept. Tim was rolled on his side, an arm thrown across Damian's small body, holding him on the bed, protective.

Dick swallowed hard, unsure of whether he should feel warmed or chilled. He felt a mix of both, honestly. He loved both his younger brothers so much; it hurt to see them hate each other when they started off. He'd tried. He knew he hadn't done anywhere near a good enough job, but he'd _tried_ to fix their relationship as best he could, keep them from killing each other while trying to teach them to get along.

And now they both hated his guts. But...at least they were getting along.

Silently, he took a step into the room, leaving the door open behind him. He quietly moved towards the bed, and grasped the blanket, which had been dislodged somehow over the course of the night, and pulled it up and tucked it over Damian and Tim. He leaned down and pressed a feather-light kiss to Damian's cheek, and to Tim's temple. Then he straightened up and headed back into the hallway, casting a wistful glance behind him.

He hoped....he _hoped,_ that someday, by some miracle, his little brothers would forgive him. He missed them so much, it hurt, and being in the same house made it even more painful. But for now, it was probably best just to leave them be.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on tumblr: autumnhobbit.tumblr.com


End file.
